Monitoring interstitial fluxes by self-assembled nanovoids in ion-implanted Si/SiGe/Si strained structures

We report on the effect of the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) ambiance on evolution of self-assembled voids of nanometer size. The spherically shaped voids are produced in molecular beam epitaxially grown Si/SiGe/Si strained structures with in-situ implantation of 1 keV Ge ions followed by RTA at 800 or 900 °C. The voids are of nanometer size and are exclusively assembled in the narrow SiGe layer. During the RTA, the voids grow in size in a nitrogen ambiance and shrink in an oxygen ambiance. The evolution of the voids correlates well with oxidation-induced injection of excess interstitials. Prospects for point defect monitoring are discussed.